"There has to be electoral process sanctity,' SC tells EC in VVPAT case

‘Everything cannot be suspected’ tells SC to petitioners doubting EVM machines

As the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections kick starts from April 19, the Supreme Court on Thursday told the Election Commission of India that there has to be sanctity in the electoral process, asking the poll body to explain in detail the steps followed to ensure free and fair polls.

“This is (an) electoral process. There has to be sanctity. Let nobody have apprehension that something which is expected is not being done,” the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said.

The court is hearing petitions seeking cross-verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with paper slips generated through the VVPAT system. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, the Election Commission’s counsel, and poll officials were present in the court to respond to the questions.

Appearing for one of the petitioners, Advocate Nizam Pasha said a voter should be allowed to take the VVPAT slip after he votes and deposit it in a ballot box. When Justice Khanna asked if such a process wouldn't affect the voter's privacy, Pasha replied: "Voter privacy cannot be used to defeat voter's rights."

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan then said that the light on the VVPAT machine should remain on at all times - it now stays on for seven seconds. The bench, which interacted for nearly an hour with senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas to understand the functioning of EVMs, told Bhushan that voter satisfaction and trust are at the core of the electoral process.

"Mr. Bhushan, now you are going too far. This is too much.